Seven Ways to Celebrate Spring ~ Mariella

Spring in South Africa does not start on the 1^st of September as we encourag to believe, but on the Spring Equinox which falls on Sunday the 22^nd September at 20:44 this year. An equinox occurs twice a year (around 20 March and 22 September), when the Equator squarely faces the sun. In other words, day and night are equal lengths.

It also means we’re on our way to Summer!

The birds are tweeting,

the bees are buzzing,

if you listen quietly you’ll hear

’Spring is coming!’

We’re going to be celebrating Spring Equinox in a big way this year, it helps that it falls over a weekend. It’s also my Wedding Anniversary! This is how we’ll be celebrating Spring:

 1. Balance an Egg

No really! Rumour has it that you can balance an egg on its end on the day of both Equinoxes. I’ve read some personal accounts and we will be trying this as a family on Sunday morning. I plan to make omelettes to either way we’ll be fine! Try it! Here is Wayne Osborn's (Physics Department, Central Michigan University) take on it, he reckons you can do it at anytime of the year. We will be proofing that!

http://francesa.phy.cmich.edu/people//osborn/egg1.html

 2. Go for a Walk!

Embrace prettiness! Dress up in blooming Spring colours, put flowers on your dog’s collar and take the family for a walk.

 3. Pick Flowers

Seek out beautiful wild flowers on your walk and do a flowers pressing project with your kids, they can turn them into bookmarks and Christmas Cards or works of art once dried.

4. Turn Spring day into Kindness Day

Even though we should be kind everyday, make a point of going out of your way to uplift and make someone else happy on Spring Equinox. Pick flowers along the way for someone you know who could use some Spring Cheer. A neighbour who has one car parked outside now instead of two, a friend who is going through a hard time. They don’t even have to know it was you!

5. Celebrate!

Have a Spring Ball and invite everyone. Tell them all to make their dishes as colourful as possible (without using food dye!) and dress as mythologically as they dare! You could make Spring Rolls! 

6. Gardening

Start a fragrant garden, include all your favourite herbs like Rosemary, Mint and Lavender and hunt down as many different types of Jasmine as you can. Next year this time you’ll be happy you did!

7. Spring Cleaning

Put some screechingly loud music on, order takeaways and commence with Spring cleaning. Look up your closest car boot sale, or set aside a charity box, a clothes swop box, 

http://freshearthorganicfood.blogspot.com/2013/04/clothes-swops-mariella.html 

a donate to your local school box, recycling and trash. Occupy one space in the corner of one room and branch out from there. Be ruthless! 
This is the rule: 
If you haven’t used it in 6 months or if it hasn’t got any long lasting sentimental worth, hand it on to someone else. Also, if clothes are too big for you, either have them taken in, by Monday, or chuck them.

Spring is nature’s way of taking its first big yawn and saying wake up world! Lets do the same!

Green juice for Sore throat ~ Mariella

Oh goodness, when I hear that little voice saying,'Mommy I have a sore throat' my own chest tightens! I know its a game of timing, if we catch early enough, it blows over, if we don't it kinda loiters about for a bit like an unwelcome guest and invites it's buddies, common cold, flu, temperature. 

There is a super winter blues busting tea we drink in the colder months,

http://freshearthorganicfood.blogspot.com/2012/07/my-winter-blues-poa-plan-of-action.html

But juicing the right stuff is like a shot of pure muti right to the spot. Here's a list of what I ferreted out of our garden and why:

~Nasturtium leaves - Yip you can eat the leaves too, and they are very effective at treating sore throat, add young leaves to your winter salad or just nibble on them if you feel a tingle in your throat.
~Peppermint - It tastes nice and it's immune boosting
~Calendula flowers - aids digestion and stimulates immune system
~Broad Leaf Parsley - Packed full of Vit A, B, C and high in iron
~Lavender - Just one little leaf, not more, for Iron, calcium and Vit A
~Bok Choi - Full of Vitamins
~Celery - very alkaline 
~Lettuce - any greens will do but lettuce is full of vitamins 
Then I add Ginger and a whole lemon, just trust me on this, cut the lemon up, and put the entire thing through the juicer, you'll never look back! These two ingredients are great for sore body, better assimilation of nutrients, anti-fever,immune boosting Vit C

The bottom line is that packing your body full of greens when you're sick will help you get better quicker due to their detoxifying and antioxidant properties.
I sugar coat this otherwise thoroughly unpalatable concoction with fresh apple juice and we see the results immediately! One more reason to grow your own!